The present invention relates to a pattern reading apparatus for reading a pattern formed on a surface of a silicon wafer or the like, and more specifically, to a pattern reading apparatus for reading a pattern formed on a reflective or transparent surface.
In manufacturing semiconductor products, semiconductor layers are applied to a semiconductor substrate, such as a silicon wafer or the like, by vapor deposition and then design patterns are formed by photo-lithography processes, etching processes, and the like. In general, a serial number is applied to the silicon wafer by laser etching so that the silicon wafer can be tracked during the pattern forming processes based on the serial number. Conventionally, the serial number on the silicon wafer is discriminated by a worker visually examining the wafer.
However, since the silicon wafer is mirror finished, for a worker to read the serial number, the wafer must be viewed obliquely while holding it to the light, or by some similar method. Further, since the quality of the pattern may deteriorate as the silicon wafer is subjected to processes such as etching, vapor deposition and the like, it is particularly difficult to discriminate the serial number of the silicon wafer after a number of such processes.
Conventionally, two types of pattern reading devices have been known: a reflective-type reading device, and a transmission-type reading device. The former is used for reading a pattern formed on a reflective surface, and the latter is used for reading a pattern formed on a transmission-type surface.
In an example of the reflective-type reading device, light emitted by a light source is incident, through a lens, to a surface on which the pattern is formed, and an image of the pattern is formed by an imaging lens on a screen or the like. In this case, a portion of the light incident to the lens is reflected on a surface of the lens to create ghosting light, which reaches the screen and reduces contrast of the image of the pattern. Further, the specular reflection from the surface having the pattern formed thereon may be incident on the screen making it more difficult to observe the image of the pattern.
As an example of the transmission-type reading device, a known device has a Fourier transformation lens, that is used for reading a pattern formed on a light transmission-type object by subjecting the pattern to a predetermined filter processing. In these optical systems, the light beam from a point light source passes through a first lens and is incident on an object as a parallel light beam. After passing through the object, the light beam is converged by a second lens and caused to pass through a spatial filter disposed at the back focal point of the second lens. When an imaging lens, having the front focal point set to the position of the filter, is disposed behind the filter, an object image, which is affected by the function of the filter, is formed at the back focal point of the imaging lens.
For example, to output an emphasized image of a pattern formed on an object surface, a high-pass filter may be used as the spatial filter to shade the paraxial rays which correspond to the image of the point light source. Further, an imaging element may be disposed at the imaging position to capture and process the image for further processing or displaying on a display unit.
In the above conventional filtering optical system, however, when an objective lens (first lens) has spherical aberration such as, for example, a spherical single lens or when coma and curvature of field arise because a light beam is obliquely incident on the objective lens, there is a problem in that the light beam which forms the image of a point light source does not converge to a point but scatters over a larger area such that a large shading region must be provided to properly execute filtering. Thus, a quantity of light used to form the image is lowered.
In a pattern reading apparatus using the above conventional filtering optical system, since the magnification of a pattern image having been formed cannot be changed, the pattern image cannot be optically enlarged or reduced. That is, since an object surface is disposed to the focal point of an objective lens in the conventional optical system, the light beam emitted from the objective lens is made a focal. Thus, even if the imaging lens is moved, magnification cannot be changed. To change the magnification, the imaging lens must be composed of a group of a plurality of lenses.
Further, a pattern reading apparatus using the above conventional filtering optical system cannot be easily used when the object to be read is intended to function as a prism (i.e., has a wedge shape or the like) for deflecting a light beam. In this case, the image of the point light source will not be shaded by a spatial filter because the image will be formed at a position outside of the axis. Thus, a component of light other than the scattered reflected component will be incident on an imaging lens and a desired filtered output image cannot be output. A similar problem also may arise when a reflection surface is tilted at the time a pattern is read by this type of apparatus.
A first object of the present invention is to provide a pattern reading apparatus capable of forming a high-contrast image of an indistinct pattern such as a serial number or the like formed on a mirror surface such as a silicon wafer, and in particular, capable of even reading a pattern which has deteriorated because of processing such as etching, vapor evaporation, and the like.
A second object of the present invention is to provide a pattern reading apparatus capable of reading a pattern image even if a portion of an illumination light beam is reflected at the lens surface of an objective lens or even if an object surface is somewhat irregular.
A third object of the present invention is to provide a pattern reading apparatus, which includes a filtering optical system, capable of shading the light beam that forms the image of a point light source without lowering the quantity of light of the pattern image substantially, even if the image of the point light source is expanded due to spherical aberration, coma, and curvature of field of an objective lens.
A fourth object of the present invention is to provide a pattern reading apparatus using a filtering optical system in which the magnification of a pattern image may be changed using a simple structure.
A fifth object of the present invention is to provide a pattern reading apparatus, using a filtering optical system, with which an image of a point light source and a shading region of a spatial filter can be made to coincide, even if an object has a function of a prism or even if a reflection type object has a tilted reflection surface.
According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided, a pattern reading apparatus including a minute-area light source, an objective lens, an imaging lens, and an imaging element. The objective lens causes the illumination light beam from the light source to be incident on a reflection surface having a pattern formed thereon as an object to be read and converges the light beam reflected from the reflection surface. The imaging lens is for imaging an image of the pattern by a scattered reflected component, which has passed through the objective lens, of the reflected light beam. The imaging element is disposed at a position where the image of the pattern is imaged for reading the pattern. The light source is optically conjugate with a center of curvature of the surface of the object to be read through the objective lens.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided, a pattern reading apparatus including illumination means for illuminating a reflection surface having a pattern formed thereon as an object to be read by a parallel light beam and detection means for detecting an image by imaging a scattered reflected component of illumination reflected from the reflection surface.
According to yet another aspect of the present invention, there is provided, a pattern reading apparatus, an objective lens, a spatial filter, and an imaging lens. The imaging lens forms the image of the pattern using the light beam that passes through the spatial filter. The pattern reading apparatus includes a minute-area light source for causing an illumination light beam to be incident on an object surface having a pattern formed thereon as an object to be read. The objective lens converges a light beam carrying the information of the pattern. The spatial filter is disposed at a position where a size of an image of the light source formed by the objective lens is smaller than a size of the image at a paraxial image point. The spatial filter has a shading region for shading a portion of the light beam that forms an image of the light source from the light beam.
According to yet another aspect of the present invention, there is provided, a pattern reading apparatus including a minute-area light source, an objective lens for converging a light beam having the information of the pattern, a spatial filter, and an imaging lens for forming the image of the pattern by the light beam having passed through the spatial filter. The minute-area light source causes an illumination light beam to be incident on an object surface having a pattern formed thereon as an object to be read. The spatial filter is disposed nearer to the objective lens than the paraxial image point of the image of the light source. The spatial filter also has a shading region for shading the light beam for forming the image of the light source which is contained in the light beam having passed through the objective lens.
According to yet another aspect of the present invention, there is provided, a pattern reading apparatus including a minute-area light source, an objective lens, a spatial filter, an imaging lens, and an imaging element disposed at the imaging position of the pattern image for reading the pattern. The objective lens causes the illumination light beam from the minute-area light source to be incident on an object surface having a pattern formed thereon as an object to be read and converges the light beam reflected at the object surface. The spatial filter is disposed nearer to the objective lens than the paraxial image point of the light source formed through the objective lens for capturing the scattered reflected component which is contained in the reflected light beam having passed through the objective lens. The imaging lens forms an image of the pattern by the component having passed through the spatial filter.
According to yet another aspect of the present invention, there is provided, a pattern reading apparatus using a Fourier conversion optical system composed of a first lens, an object surface to be read, a second lens, a spatial filter, and an imaging surface which are disposed along the traveling direction of the light beam from a light source. The spatial filter is disposed nearer to the second lens than the back focal point of the second lens.
According to yet another aspect of the present invention, there is provided, a pattern reading apparatus for causing a light beam emitted from a light source to be incident on an object surface. The object surface has a pattern formed thereon as an object to be read through an objective lens. The pattern reading apparatus is also for converging the light beam reflected at the object surface through the objective lens as well as reading the image of the pattern by forming the image by an imaging lens. Also provided is a tilt mechanism for supporting the objective lens such that the objective lens is rotatable about a rotation axis which is perpendicular to the optical axis of the objective lens.
According to yet another aspect of the present invention, there is provided, a pattern reading apparatus including a minute-area light source, an objective lens, a spatial filter, an imaging lens, an imaging element, and a tilt mechanism. The objective lens causes the illumination light beam from the light source to be incident on an object surface having a pattern formed thereon as an object to be read and converges the light beam reflected at the object surface. The spatial filter captures the scattered reflected component which is contained in the reflected light beam having passed through the objective lens. The imaging lens images the image of the pattern by the component having passed through the spatial filter. The imaging element is disposed at the imaging position of the pattern image for reading the pattern. The tilt mechanism supports the objective lens to allow turning about a turning axis which is perpendicular to the optical axis of the objective lens.
According to yet another aspect of the present invention, there is provided, a pattern reading apparatus for causing the illumination light beam emitted from a minute-area light source to be incident on an object surface through a first lens. The object surface has a pattern formed thereon as an object to be read. The pattern reading apparatus has a second lens that converges a light beam having the information of the pattern and causes the converging light beam to be incident on an imaging lens. The pattern reading apparatus is for forming the image of the pattern by the imaging lens and reading the formed image. A tilt mechanism is provided for supporting the second lens to allow turning about a turning axis which is perpendicular to the optical axis of the second lens.
According to yet another aspect of the present invention, there is provided, a pattern reading apparatus for causing the illumination light beam emitted from a minute-area light source to be incident on an object surface. The object surface has a pattern formed thereon as an object to be read. The pattern reading apparatus has an objective lens for converging a light beam having the pattern information. The pattern reading apparatus also causes the converging light beam to be incident on an imaging lens, which forms the image of the pattern, and reads the image. The objective lens is disposed such that the light beam originating from a point of the object surface and emitted from the objective lens is changed to a non-parallel light beam. The imaging lens and an imaging surface are made movable along the optical axis direction of the imaging lens in order to change magnification.
According to yet another aspect of the present invention, there is provided, a pattern reading apparatus including a minute-area light source, an objective lens, a spatial filter, and an imaging element. The objective lens causes the illumination light beam from the light source to be incident on an object surface, having a pattern formed thereon as an object to be read, and converges the light beam reflected at the object surface. The spatial filter is for capturing a scattered reflected component which is contained in the reflected light beam having passed through the objective lens. The imaging element is disposed at the imaging position of the pattern image for reading the pattern. The imaging lens and the imaging element are movable along the optical axis direction of the imaging lens in order to change magnification.
According to yet another aspect of the present invention, there is provided, a pattern reading apparatus for causing the illumination light beam emitted from a minute-area light source to be incident on an object surface, having a pattern formed thereon as an object to be read. The pattern reading apparatus also has an objective lens that converges a light beam having the pattern information and causes the converged light source to be incident on an imaging lens. The imaging lens forms the image of the pattern. The pattern reading apparatus is also for reading the image and includes an adjustment mechanism for adjusting the position of the light source in a plane which is perpendicular to the principal beam of the illumination light beam.
According to yet another aspect of the present invention, there is provided, a pattern reading apparatus for causing the illumination light beam emitted from a minute-area light source to be incident on an object surface having a pattern formed thereon as an object to be read. An objective lens converges a light beam having the pattern information. The light beams that pass through the objective lens are incident on an imaging lens through a spatial filter. The imaging lens forms the image of the pattern. The image is also read. The spatial filter is a filter having a shading region for shading paraxial rays. The apparatus includes an adjustment mechanism for adjusting the relative positional relationship between the position of the image of the light source formed by the objective lens and the shading region of the spatial filter in the plane which crosses the optical axis of the imaging lens.
According to yet another aspect of the present invention, there is provided, a pattern reading apparatus including a minute-area light source disposed to cause an illumination light beam to be obliquely incident on an approximately flat object surface having a pattern formed thereon as an object to be read at a predetermined incident angle. The pattern reading apparatus also includes an objective lens for converging a light beam having the information of the pattern, a spatial filter having a shading region for shading the portion of the reflected light beam from the object surface which has passed through the spatial filter and forms the image of the light source, and an imaging element. The imaging element is for reading the image of the pattern formed by the light beam having passed through the spatial filter. The line extending from the principal plane of a lens interposed between the object surface and an imaging surface and having an imaging action, the line extending from the imaging surface and the line extending from the object surface cross each other on an approximately straight line.
According to yet another aspect of the present invention, there is provided, a pattern reading apparatus including a minute-area light source for illuminating an object surface having a pattern formed thereon as object to be read. The pattern reading apparatus also includes an objective lens for converging a light beam having the pattern information, a spatial filter and a shift mechanism. The spatial filter has a shading region for shading the light beam, which forms the image of the light source, of the light beam having passed through the objective lens. The shift mechanism is for supporting the objective lens so as to allow parallel movement in a direction approximately perpendicular to the optical axis of the objective lens. The image of the pattern formed by the component having passed through the spatial filter is read.
According to yet another aspect of the present invention, there is provided, a pattern reading apparatus including a minute-area light source disposed such that an illumination light beam is caused to be incident on an object surface having a pattern formed thereon as a object to be read without passing through a lens. The pattern reading apparatus also includes an objective lens for converging a light beam having the pattern information, a spatial filter, and an imaging element. The spatial filter has a shading region for shading the portion, which forms the image of the light source, of the light beam having passed through the objective lens. The imaging element is for reading the image of the pattern formed by the light beam having passed through the spatial filter.
According to yet another aspect of the present invention, there is provided, a pattern reading apparatus including an objective lens disposed in confrontation with an object surface as a reflection surface having a pattern formed thereon as an object to be read. The pattern reading apparatus includes a minute-area light source disposed at a position which is conjugate with the center of curvature of the object surface through the objective lens for illuminating the object surface through the objective lens. The pattern reading apparatus also includes an imaging lens and an imaging element. The imaging lens is disposed farther from the object surface than the light source with the optical axis thereof in coincidence with the objective lens. The imaging element is for reading the image of the pattern which is reflected at the object surface and formed through the objective lens and the imaging lens.